For Central Texans who for more than a decade now have blamed SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk's thundering rocket-testing facility just west of Waco for cracking the foundations of their homes and rattling their walls and shaking loose framed pictures of Aunt Bee, brace yourself.
Pegged by some as President Trump’s “co-president,” Musk is
now taking a crack at some of America’s most entrenched institutions as part of
the Make America Great Again mission to remake the United States and its system
of governance. But is this truly about streamlining a bloated and arguably wasteful government or part of the political retribution that seems to driving much of the Trump administration?
We all may pay a hefty price in learning the truth.
After trafficking in falsehoods about illegal immigrants on
his social-media platform in support of Donald Trump's reelection, the eccentric,
limelight-craving South African-born tech billionaire was enlisted to, in
Trump’s words, "pave the way for my administration to dismantle government
bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and
restructure federal agencies – essential to the ‘Save America’ movement.”
All of which might seem a good thing unless you suddenly
discover you or someone close to you is in the path of the Trump-Musk Department
of Government Efficiency bulldozers.
"It will become, potentially, 'The Manhattan Project'
of our time," Trump stated on Nov. 12. "Republican politicians have
dreamed about the objectives of 'DOGE' for a very long time. To drive this kind
of drastic change, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice
and guidance from outside of government and will partner with the White House
and Office of Management & Budget to drive large-scale structural reform
and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before.”
Consider this a layup to Musk’s goal of not only one day
colonizing Mars but also being among the first to walk on the Red Planet. The
53-year-old tech billionaire would seem to have credentials for tackling the
federal deficit if you believe government should be run like a business – and it
shouldn’t because it isn’t a business. After acquiring the social-media
platform “X,” formerly Twitter, in 2022, Musk famously cut the workforce from
some 8,000 employees to about 1,500 by spring 2023.
Therein lies the problem: Massive staffing cuts can either improve
workplace efficiency or overwhelm remaining staff to the point that efficiency,
production and workplace quality suffer dramatically.
A few days before the 2024 election, I lost all access to my
“X” account. I patiently and methodically followed all required “X” protocols
to reestablish contact, only for the clunky “X” program to implode each time I
passed its test to prove that, no, I wasn’t a robot. Clearly the problem was a
gummed-up computer program – a familiar “X” problem, I’ve since learned. If any
tech staff remained on duty, they ignored my online entreaties. The only
company phone number yielded no callback.
Thanks, Elon.
Now imagine being 140 million miles from Earth and running
into an onboard glitch in a SpaceX vessel orbiting Mars and being unable to
reach Mission Control back on Earth because they’d all been fired as redundant
by Musk and the robotics left in place didn’t function. This scenario conjures
up an epic film released before Musk was born in which the malfunctioning “Hal
5000” computer signs off by telling a desperately imperiled astronaut: “Dave,
this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.”
Musk foolishly boasted during an Oct. 27 Trump campaign
rally that “at least $2 trillion” can be cut from the $6.75 trillion federal
budget, prompting wild cheers and applause. And at a Nov. 14 America First
Policy Institute at Mar-a-Lago he echoed cries of January 6 insurrectionists
storming the U.S. Capitol in suggesting that massive cuts in federal spending
figured in the Election Day 2024 mandate: “It’s not going to be business as
usual. We’re going to shake things up. It’s going to be a revolution!”
Yet Musk now needs to prove he’s not as crazy as the rest of
the Trump circus. During the America First fête at Mar-a-Lago, brimming in
self-congratulatory rhetoric, Musk vowed to pursue Trump’s “restoration of
common sense” during a week that saw Trump nominate a “Fox & Friends”
weekend co-host to run the Pentagon, notorious anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy
Jr. as health secretary and Florida congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney general
amid a congressional investigation for sexual misconduct and drug abuse.
Musk prides himself on his fancy figuring. Well, figure
this: Not quite half of the budget funds Medicaid, Medicare and Social
Security, the latter two exceedingly popular among Trump supporters (and
everyone else). Trump, for what it’s worth, vows not to cut these. Another 15
percent or so goes to defense, which Trump has talked of expanding. Another 12
or 13 percent goes to funding interest on the federal debt. That leaves
veterans’ benefits, farm subsidies, transportation infrastructure and other agency
missions.
One way to gauge whether the coming federal slaughter is
legitimate, above-board and equitable or just another Trump boondoggle – such
as the 2017 Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity that found
zero evidence of all the illegal voting Trump claimed after the 2016 election –
is to gauge whether any of Musk's federal contracts fall prey to all this
joyous “dismantling,” including his SpaceX business. The latter has reportedly
benefited from $19.8 billion in federal contracts since 2008.
If Musk isn’t sharing in the pain he acknowledges could be
coming to others, this effort could prove to be just another instance of oligarchs
playing monopoly with American lives.
To his credit, Musk voiced legitimate concerns about federal
spending well before deciding to become Trump’s moneybags cheerleader of disinformation
on “X.” During a 2021 Wall Street Journal interview, Musk – celebrated
manufacturer of electric vehicles – said he thought $7,500 EV tax credits and
subsidies for recharging stations should be deleted from legislation given that
federal spending wildly outstripped revenue. “I’m literally saying get rid of
all subsidies,” he declared. “Also for oil and gas.”
Oops. A lot of Texas conservatives don’t want to hear that –
which gets us to the real problem. Many of us are all too happy to question the
other guy’s federally funded subsidy and tax credits and loopholes but express
great indignity upon our own being questioned. For genuine conservatives, the
problem is not so much subsidies and tax credits but the fact politicians,
right and left, regularly play favorites in picking who gets what. Musk’s
success will pivot on how equitable and fair he is in proposing what’s cut.
This much is sure: Musk starts out from behind. He knows
more about Mars than federal expenditures. When Maya MacGuineas, longtime president
of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and a respected
expert in budget, tax and economic policy, learned that Musk had boasted of
cutting $2 trillion, “it was kind of a signal that he wasn’t quite familiar
with the federal budget at the time. It was the biggest overpromise.”
Musk appears to have realized his error. During a Jan. 8
podcast Q&A with political strategist Mark Penn, Musk chuckled
uncomfortably when asked about his vow to cut $2 trillion, suggesting that if
his team aspired for $2 trillion, “we’ve got a good shot at getting $1
trillion.” MacGuineas’ informed opinion: Even modest reforms will require a mix
of budget cuts and tax hikes. Excluding Social Security, Medicare, defense and
veterans’ benefits reportedly would require 85 percent in cuts to everything else.
In his own pursuits, Musk has every selfish reason to be
contemptuous of government regulations and priorities of other citizens.
Despite overwhelming opposition, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission last
March ignored Texans, sided with Musk and approved a swap of 43 acres of Boca
Chica State Park with SpaceX for 477 acres of private land near Laguna Atascosa
National Wildlife Refuge. Many Texans also voice concern over Musk’s Boca Chica
launch site’s impact on birds and wildlife at the refuge.
That’s the thing about regulations. They never seem relevant
till your neighbor pollutes a creek that flows into your stock tank. Here in
McLennan County, folks have been sniping at one another on a neighborhood app
over the earthshaking tests at Musk’s SpaceX rocket-testing facility. This has
assumed political overtones. Some want compensation for what they contend is
structural damage done to their homes. Others side with Musk over their own neighbors,
partially because Musk is on Team Trump.
One woman complained of area homes “being damaged by the
testing of mega rockets.” A neighbor advised stoicism, noting: “I mean...we
sort of voted for this in November. Good luck.” Another defended Musk in a
run-on sentence: “Nobody can go after SpaceX give me a break like Elon said if
you don’t like it move.” Another left undisguised her loyalties to Trump over
neighbors: “Hurry up 1/20. We gonna run out of money to send to Ukraine and
celebrate sin and pay lawyers to release guilty people.”
Even before Musk’s formal appointment to “DOGE,” the world’s
richest man warned MAGA followers of “temporary hardship” in connection with
overhauling wasteful programs and frivolous spending. The problem is that in a
movement deeply grounded in grievance – some real, some imagined, some brought
on by MAGA individuals themselves, some by factors beyond their control – MAGA
disciples will sacrifice only so much before bailing – and, with them, some of
Trump’s Republican backing in Congress.
Also unlikely to help matters: Musk’s propensity to pop off
and say stupid things such as suggesting (via his social-media platform) that
the Internal Revenue Service be “deleted,” which of course would throw into
uncertainty everything from federal crop insurance programs to defense
spending. This prompted someone on Musk’s own social-media platform to retort:
“Musk should try this out on his companies first by eliminating their Accounts
Receivables departments. See how that works out for him.”
Nor does Musk bolster confidence when he claims (and then convinces President Trump to repeat) that $50 million was allocated to Gaza by the previous administration to buy condoms for Hamas – an easily disproved falsehood that casts further doubt on not only DOGE but the entire Trump administration. Either someone can’t read spreadsheets or all the president's men and women are riding the same crest of lies they did during the campaign. Meanwhile, another conspiracy theory is dutifully digested by MAGA's millions.
Nor can any citizen who values his or her Social Security check or Medicare payments be reassured by the oligarch's chosen designates, none reportedly older than age 24, gaining access to the U.S. Department of Treasury's sprawling and intricate payment system responsible for not only dispensing trillions of dollars in government expenditures but protecting sensitive information about hundreds of millions of Americans, including their Social Security numbers and medical histories. Which raises a broader question given the enormous potential for corruption and incompetence only now arising in the minds of inquiring citizens: Did Trump voters really mean to vote for a shadow government and a cabinet full of billionaires? Are they willing to bet their retirement and health benefits on such convictions?
In any case, Republican lawmakers, terrified of a disapproving tweet by Trump or Musk, dare say little on behalf of jittery constituents. Example: As the blood pressure of some Texans spiked as more and more learned of potential disaster with Musk and his unvetted designates meddling with sensitive information, Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a former state supreme court judge, attorney general and self-described conservative, clearly sought to change the subject with a Feb. 2 "X" post about Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow in central Pennsylvania: "That means we could see six more weeks of winter, at least according to Groundhog Day lore." Thanks, Big John!
During an Inauguration Day rally, Musk thrilled a wildly cheering MAGA crowd with wildly incongruous promises of “safe cities, secure
borders, sensible spending, basic stuff – and we’re going to take DOGE to
Mars!” Yet in discerning minds this raises questions about dramatically cutting
federal spending in such programs as Social Security and Medicare to fund
trillions in tax cuts for the rich, send the military to the border, buy Greenland, take over and develop the Gaza Strip and send a costly manned expedition to
Mars.
In a November interview, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson
explained the pure folly of a Mars mission amidst MAGA’s
run-government-like-a-business mantra – and how private enterprise might greet
the idea: “What does that venture capitalist meeting look like? ‘So, Elon, what
do you want to do?’ ‘I want to go to Mars.’ ‘How much will it cost?’ ‘It’ll
cost a trillion dollars.’ ‘Is it safe?’ ‘No, people will probably die.’ ‘What’s
the return on investment?’ ‘Nothing.’ That’s a five-minute meeting and it
doesn’t happen.”
Unless, of course, Trump and Musk can fire up MAGA to agree that
traveling to Mars is more important than, say, the skyrocketing egg prices so
many complained about during the presidential campaign or the cost of prescription
drugs that Trump just threatened. And given the hostility of Mars’ environment,
is it not smarter to ensure Earth is not only more habitable for our children and
grandchildren but that we’re creating a systemic defense against the asteroids
that keep skirting our planet?
There’s absolutely no doubt the federal government funds
dubious if not stupid endeavors. As U.S. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma
recently noted, the U.S. State Department allocated $20,600 to a culture center
in Ecuador to host, of all things, a dozen drag shows. And the National Science
Foundation spent $660,000 to study COVID-19’s impact on Russian women. An
earmark of $750,000 funded the New York Metropolitan Opera’s overhaul of its
fire alarm system.
“Now, I may have different opinions in this room on drag
shows,” Lankford, a religiously grounded conservative, conceded of funding drag
shows abroad, a program that aimed to advance the values of diversity and
inclusion of LGBTQ communities in daily life. “I’m just asking the simple
question: Is the best use of American tax dollars to actually fund drag shows
in Ecuador with U.S. tax dollars? I don’t believe that it is.”
Of course, such funding figuratively amounts to nickels and
dimes when you’re looking for $2 trillion (or even a trillion). It’s also
critical to note that not all expenses are as stupid as they might at first
seem. I recall an oft-played sound bite by Republican U.S. Sen.
John McCain of Arizona in 2009 attacking, among other “pet projects”
inserted by lawmakers into spending bills, an earmark by Democratic Congressman
Chet Edwards of Waco. It allotted $1.7 million for what McCain called a
"honeybee factory."
Look closer (as I did) and you'll discover the
"honeybee factory" wasn't a factory at all but a research center in
South Texas charged with studying the sharp decline in bee populations
worldwide, including here in Central Texas. That might not seem important till
you note that, in a world without bees, you're also likely to be without those
crops that bees pollinate. We're talking about apples, avocados,
cashews, watermelons, macadamia nuts, cantaloupes, almonds, pumpkins, peaches,
apricots, cherries, raspberries, plums and pears, to name a few.
All this cutting could boil down to what’s foolhardy in
federal spending and what’s not – and choosing between, say, research to
determine the quantity and quality of water on Mars – that planet upon which
Musk hopes to one day walk – or the mounting challenges of producing food in
America, something Texas farmers and ranchers stressed in their pleas for a
wider range of government-run crop insurance coverage during a U.S. House
Agriculture Committee listening session in Waco in March 2023.
If Musk ultimately bungles his search for $2 trillion of
cuts in the federal budget and unwittingly helps President Trump turn America
into a devastated, delusional, more dysfunctional third-world nation brimming
with reckless oligarchs richer than they are now and a working class grappling
with more than egg, gasoline and prescription drug prices, one objective may
well present itself to a future president of the United States: Giving Musk his
wish and sending him to Mars. Along with Trump.
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